In 1979 Dr. Robert Custer started the National Foundation for Study of Pathological Gambling. He invited Sheila and me to join him. He thought he was going to raise enough money to cover the entire cost of treatment for any gambler who wanted treatment for gambling addiction. We were invited to Las Vegas by Steve Wynn — the only person in the gambling industry back then who would even say the word gambling addiction. We also put him on the board of the NFSTPG. We spent one week meeting with a lot of the top people in Nevada. Our efforts resulted in a check for $10,000 from Wynn. After we returned, we held similar meetings with top executives in Atlantic City, but no one would give us a nickel. We had an addicted gambler in New Jersey who was arrested and was admitted to a pre-trial intervention program. As part of the program he was required to perform a number of hours of community service which he did and funded the NFSTPG. He stayed for about a year until his participation in the pre-trial intervention program ended. And that was the end of Dr. Custer’s dream

In the mid-1980′s, when I was the Executive Director of the Council on Compulsive Gambling of New Jersey, Alyce Parker and other officials from Harrah’s met with me to talk about compulsive gambling addiction. They

told me they were interested in posting signs in their casino in Atlantic City to alert customers that help was available for problem gamblers. The CCGNJ had already started a hotline for gamblers in New Jersey — 800 GAMBLER — which actually was available to callers around the country. Harrah’s wanted to post the hotline number in its Atlantic City Casino – something no other casino in the world was doing at that time.

Ironically, just a few weeks before it was going to go up in Harrah’ I got a call to meet with Steve Norton who was executive vice president at Resorts International Inc. which owned one of the casinos in Atlantic City. When we met, he had signs made up saying if you or someone you know has a gambling problem call the CCGNJ hotline 800 GAMBLER. He asked if we would have any objection if Resorts put those signs up. I told him I had no objection and thanked him. The signs went up that day.

A few years later I went to see Chuck Hardwick who was then the Spealer of the New Jersey Assembly. The casino industry was pushing for some piece of legislation, so I got Hardwick to add an amendment that required a line on any casino related advertisement: “if you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help call 1-800 GAMBLER.” It passed and now you see the hotline number posted all over the place, on billboards, in magazines and newspapers and other signs all over the country in casinos..

I think it was early or mid 1990′s that the American Gaming Association was formed. A couple of years later, the National Gambling Impact Study Commission was created. From my memeory, it was shortly after that when we started to hear the words and ideas about Responsible Gaming Programs.

Arnie Wexler CCGC

http://www.aswexler.com/

Compulsive gambling is a progressive disease, much like an addiction to alcohol or drugs. In many cases, the gambling addiction is hidden until the gambler becomes unable to function without gambling, and he or she begins to exclude all other activities from their lives. Inability to stop gambling often results in financial devastation, broken homes, employment problems, criminal acts and suicide attempts.

Since 1980 the American Psychiatric Association has included a diagnosis for Pathological (Compulsive) Gambling in their manual. It is considered a disorder that responds to treatment.

Compulsive gambling has some similarities to other addictions (i.e. chemical addiction or alcoholism). The gambler uses gambling to “get high” or to numb themselves, by escaping into a dream world of gambling. However, compulsive gamblers do not ingest anything and therefore, do not have any visual signs such as track marks, dilated pupils. This adds to the denial of this illness, since the person still appears “normal”.

The gambler is eventually able to remove themselves from reality to the point of being totally obsessed with gambling. Eventually, they will do anything to get the money with which to stay in “action”. They will spend all their time and energy developing schemes in order to get the money to continue gambling. Lying becomes a way of life for the gambler. They will try to convince others and themselves that their lies are actually truths.

For the spouse or family member of the gambler,ESPEPIALLY THE SPOUSE OF THE FEMALE GAMBLER, the effects of compulsive gambling can be devastating. Financially, emotionally and mentally, they will be drained of all their energy and resources. The worst thing any family member can ever do is to bail out the compulsive gambler from their financial pressures. Money is the “drug” that the gambler uses.

Our society views gambling as “fun and games”. For many people, that is the case.

Gambling is glamorized in the movies, on TV and in the media. One prime example is the fact that when you open your local newspaper you can get the odds and point spreads on almost every sporting event that will take place, nationwide, even though you can’t place a legal bet in America, except in Las Vegas. Some newspapers are even running “poker” columns and treating the game of poker as a “sport”. Another example is the sports talk shows and nightly news shows that tell you who to pick and what point spreads to take.

The lottery has become a national event on a daily basis. Sometimes it’s the lead story on the nightly news. I’ve seen advertising when a Governor of a state, holds up a lottery ticket and suggests that citizens are helping worthy causes if they buy a lottery ticket. If that same Governor had held up a bottle of alcohol and suggested that sales taxes would help the state, people would be outraged. When I was the Executive Director of the Council on Compulsive Gambling of NJ, we hired Gallop to do a survey. Two of the questions were: “have you ever played illegal numbers?” (31 % said they did.) and “do you play legal lottery?’( 81% said they did).

Poker is sweeping the nation and the world. It is the hottest thing on college campuses. It is easier to play poker then it is to buy cigarettes or a can of beer on campuses all over the country. In the 37 years that I have been helping compulsive gamblers, I have never seen anything explode like poker has. One third of all the callers to our help line (888 LAST BET) are either parents of young gamblers or young people who have the problem. I have spoken to college students who play poker day and night. They even play during class. It has become such an enormous craze that poker paraphernalia is one of the biggest selling items in stores, today.

You can’t surf the TV without seeing some kind of poker tournament being televised, and you can’t be on your computer without seeing a pop up about poker or receiving an email inviting you to come to a poker site to play. They often invite you to play for free, and after awhile you will get invited to switch over to live poker games for money.

Some of the people (both youngsters and adults) are becoming addicted to poker. Not everyone who plays, will develop a compulsive gambling problem, but there are those who will get caught up in the craze and then cross that invisible line which will lead to destruction. Since Compulsive Gambling is an impulse disorder, the fact that someone can “play” at any time, day or night and anywhere (home, college dorm or office) increases the chances of the person becoming addicted.

According to a Harvard study a few years ago, 4.67% of young people have a gambling problem. Experts tell us that the earlier a person starts to gamble, the greater the risk of them becoming a compulsive gambler. In another survey, 96% of adult male recovering gamblers’ stated that they started gambling before the age of 14. With this poker explosion, we envision that the average age of people seeking help for a gambling problem will be much younger in the next few years. It seems to me that there must be education and prevention programs for young people (from grade school through college) similar to those programs for drugs and alcohol.

I think it’s important to note that it is not just young people that have this problem.

The gambling experience (both legal and illegal) is much more available in our society, today. This disease cuts across all cultural, social and economic aspects of society. I believe that there are more active compulsive gamblers, today, then in any other time in our history.

I HAVE BEEN TOLD THAT YEARS AGO WHEN SOMEONE GOT TO A GAMBLERS ANONYMOUS MEETING IF THERE WERE 1 OR 2 WOMEN AT THE MEETING THAT WAS RARE. TODAY IF YOU GO TO A GAMBLERS ANONYMOUS MEETING IN SOME CASE YOU WILL SEE MORE WOMEN THEN MEN.TWENTY YEARS AGO 5% OF CALLS TO HOTLINES WERE FROM WOMEN TODAY SOME HOTLINES REPORT OVER 55% OF THE CALLS ARE FROM WOMEN GAMBLERS.

SO MANY CASES OF WOMEN ARE SHOWING UP IN COURTS TODAY BECAUSE THEY EMBEZZLED $ TO SUPPORT THERE GAMBLING ADDICTIONS.

ABOUT ½ THE CALLS WE GET ON OUR

888 LAST BET HELPLINE ARE FROM WOMEN NSEEKING HELP

The shame and guilt hits the female gambler harder than with the male,” he said. “When I talk with male gamblers, sometimes it takes two or three times before they go for help. Sometimes it takes two or three years before a female seeks help.

You can get up in the middle of the night and gamble on the Internet in your birthday suit And you don’t even have to put gasoline in your car to travel anyplace.

Last summer, I did a segment for NBC’s “Today” show about gambling. A 57-year-old woman videotaped it and watched it at least once a week. She finally called A YEAR LATER for help.

There is help for the compulsive gambler and their families in the form of Gamblers Anonymous and Gam-Anon, internationally. Gamblers Anonymous is a 12- step, self help program for the compulsive gambler. Gam-Anon is for those affected by a gambling problem.

Some people may have a need for professional treatment services, as well. Unfortunately, there are not that many facilities available. In addition, when the gambler “bottoms out”, he/ or she usually has no funds to pay for these services. Most insurance companies do not cover compulsive gambling treatment. A few states have funded programs, but more is needed.

People need to understand that although compulsive gambling is a devastating addiction, you can recover and live a productive and wonderful life. I know from my own experience that this is possible. I, like many others, lived every day in the grips of hopelessness because I couldn’t stop gambling. I used to go to bed at night hoping and praying that I would not wake up so that I wouldn’t have to face the next day. Today, I can’t wait to wake up in the morning and enjoy another day without gambling.

ARNIE WEXLER CCCG

Arnie and his wife Sheila run a consulting firm to help educate the public on the problem of compulsive gambling. They can be reached at www.aswexler.com .

You can’t surf the TV without seeing some kind of poker tournament being televised, and you can’t be on your computer without seeing a pop up about poker or receiving an email inviting you to come to a poker site to play.

Some of the people (both youngsters and adults) are becoming addicted to poker. Not everyone who plays, will develop a compulsive gambling problem, but there are those who will get caught up in the craze and then cross that invisible line which will lead to destruction.

It is very easy for someone to get “hooked” on poker. It is readily available (24 hours a day). In some cases (via the internet) you never have to leave your home or office. You don’t even need to get dressed. The game of poker is quick and socially acceptable.

It is the kind of gambling experience that fits very well with someone who has an impulse disorder like compulsive gambling. It holds a special danger for those who are already at risk, or compulsive gamblers in recovery. We have seen recovering gamblers relapse into their addiction as the result of being tempted by the poker craze.

Almost every day, we get emails ( aswexler@aol.com) or hot line calls (888- LAST BET) from people asking for help about their poker addiction. Some of the requests come from parents of youngsters (as young as 14). Others vary from teens to seniors, men and women as well.

The American Psychiatric Association describes Pathological Gambling as an impulse disorder. The criteria they use to diagnose this disorder is as follows:

Persistent and recurrent maladaptive gambling behavior as indicated by at least five of the following:

1. is preoccupied with gambling (e.g., preoccupied with reliving past gambling experiences, handicapping or planning the next venture, or thinking of ways to get money with which to gamble)

2. needs to gamble with increasing amounts of money in order to achieve the desired excitement

3. has repeated unsuccessful efforts to control, cut back, or stop gambling

4. is restless or irritable when attempting to cut down or stop gambling

5. gambles as a way of escaping from problems or of relieving a dysphoric mood (e.g., feelings of helplessness, guilt, anxiety, depression.

6. after losing money gambling, often returns another day in order to get even (“chasing” one’s losses)

7. lies to family members, therapist, or others to conceal the extent of involvement with gambling

8. has committed illegal acts, such as forgery, fraud, theft, or embezzlement, in order to finance gambling

9. has jeopardized or lost a significant relationship, job, or educational or career opportunity because of gambling

10.relies on others to provide money to relieve a desperate financial situation caused by gambling

Fri, Mar 26, 2010 (3 a.m.)

For many sports fans, the best time of the year began last week and is continuing this weekend and next.
March Madness.

It’s the time of year for miracle three-pointers at the buzzer and college basketball teams from schools few people have ever heard of to have the chance to take down the powerhouses.

Because the NCAA tournament is an event stretched out over three weekends, there’s a greater effect than a single-day event such as the Super Bowl at Nevada’s sports books.

Nevada is the only state where legal wagering occurs. On opening weekend, when 64 teams in the tournament were playing, Las Vegas’ sports books were jammed with hoops fans making wagers.

Although March is a special time for Las Vegas, it unleashes a different kind of Madness for Arnie Wexler, who regularly lectures on the dangers of compulsive gambling, especially during the NCAA tournament and especially by college students.

“Because it’s stretched out over a long period, it’s the biggest gambling event of the year,” said Wexler, who says he placed his last bet April 10, 1968, and has been involved in helping compulsive gamblers for the past 40 years.

During March Madness, Wexler doubles his awareness efforts, claiming the big basketball tournament sucks in unsuspecting students who enjoy the thrill of winning a wager, then find themselves gambling money they once dedicated to educational expenses.

Wexler says the addictive gambling behavior has worsened with the growth of the Internet.

“We can’t stop it, and it’s getting worse,” he said. “Addiction is an impulse and with the Internet, you can jump on your computer in the middle of the night and lose thousands of dollars in no time.”

The NCAA and professional sports leagues have hypocritical stances on gambling, Wexler said.

He said he has tried to persuade the NCAA to act on growing evidence that gambling on college campuses is out of control. The organization pays him lip service and sends him on his way, he says. Its effort to combat gambling is to show student athletes a tired 20-minute film warning them not to associate with professional gamblers who may try to influence them to throw games, Wexler said.

The NCAA also provides a “gambling hotline” that rings into its office so that students can report illegal activity.
“What kid in his right mind is going to call the NCAA office?” Wexler said. “An athlete who did that would be barred from playing. What the NCAA needs is a real program that teaches about addiction.”

Professional leagues have their own problems, he said. Most have no problem talking about favorites and underdogs in their releases and broadcasts, and all operate their own “fantasy leagues” using statistics generated from games for fans to compete with one another for prizes.

Wexler had a few choice blasts for newspapers that publish gambling lines and point spreads.

“Why don’t they at least publish a phone number for people to call if they have gambling problem if they’re going to publish those lines?” he said. “I can’t even get the newspapers to do that. At least on cigarette packages, there are warnings that smoking is harmful to your health.”

Wexler wonders how much productivity has been lost in the American workplace this month with employees moving their attention from work to March Madness tournament brackets. He knows attention to academics is being diverted on college campuses across the country.

He said about one-third of the calls he received in the past three years on his gambling addiction hotline — 888-LAST BET — came from people from the age of 12 to 25. At the Comprehensive Addiction Rehabilitation Education center, C.A.R.E. Florida, near Wexler’s Boynton Beach, Fla., home, seven people are in treatment for gambling addictions. Five of them started gambling when they were in college.

“It’s completely out of control and it’s on college campuses everywhere,” he said.

The atmosphere at UNLV is a little different from other college campuses, since sports wagering is legal in Nevada for people 21 and older. But it’s just as pervasive.

Sage Sammons, sports editor of UNLV’ student newspaper The Rebel Yell, says the three questions that always come up in his circles are who’s playing, at what time and what’s the line.

Because sports wagering is legal, the gambling culture is more about social interaction than trying to beat the books.
“My friends usually bet anywhere from $10 to $150,” Sammons said. “The biggest bet one of my friends made was $100 on one game, and we were all looking at him like he was crazy.”

Sammons said he has seen some addictive gambling behavior in friends of friends.
“Some friends know a guy who gambled $1,000 at the opening of Aria,” he said. “A friend of a friend blew through $2,000 in one night, most of it on blackjack. Most of us can’t do that — that’s a semester’s worth of tuition.”

But he and his friends have seen some students move back in with their parents because they couldn’t handle the financial pressures, including gambling losses.

Although sports wagering is legal in Nevada, Sammons admits he has seen some instances where underage gamblers have convinced older fraternity brothers to place a bet for them.

“It’s like a rite of passage,” he said. “When I turned 21, one of the first things I did was get a beer at the sports book bar and place a bet.”

As sports editor, he has plenty of contact with student athletes and he said he has never seen or heard of any UNLV athletes betting on sports.

“There’s too much at stake for them,” he said. “They’d have their scholarships revoked, and they would be in trouble for a long time. I would be 100 percent shocked if there are any athletes at UNLV that gamble.”

It was Memorial Day 1951. He was a 14-year-old Brooklyn boy earning four bits an hour in an after-school job when he made his first score gambling at Roosevelt Raceway in Westbury: $54 cash — genuine folding green.

“It changed my life,” he says in a nasal voice like one of the kids from “Welcome Back Kotter.” “I thought in that moment, that day, what a euphoria, what a high, what an easy way to make money. And what a schmuck I was working for 50 cents an hour.”

By 17, when most kids were hustling to buy their first car, Wexler had his own bookmaker. By 18, he was winning and losing thousands.
When it came to sports betting, he didn’t discriminate. He bet hockey without knowing what a puck was. He bet horses daily, sometimes gambling away his bankroll before he was able to play the mob’s fixed race of the day.

“I’d bet on a cock-a-roach race,” he says. “I bet everything and anything.”
It was December 1967 when he learned the bottom line from Matty, his North Bergen, N.J., bookmaker, about the incredible popularity of football with the betting public. On that day, Arnie could have told you the stats for the starting lineups of the American League, but he couldn’t have named five NFL players.

Soon he was gambling way over his head on football. He was on his way to losing his career, his friends and his family. While earning $125 a week, he once called in a $10,800 bet. “And if I lose the 10 cents in the phone booth, I can’t call the man back.”

He doesn’t blame Las Vegas. Without setting foot in a casino, he gambled with bookmakers, in backroom card games, and at the racetrack.
He won a lot — and always lost more.

His life eventually got better  when he found recovery and  he began to learn about the nature of addiction. Ever a man with a head for numbers, Arnie reminds me he placed his last bet on April 10, 1968.

Today, Wexler and his wife, Sheila, are two of the nation’s most vocal advocates of a greater understanding of gambling addiction. Today, on Super Bowl Sunday in a nation that worships sports and the betting that is an integral part of its reason for being, the Wexlers are lone voices drowned out by the roaring crowd.

When I ask his opinion of the importance of betting to the NFL and the Super Bowl, he doesn’t miss a beat.

“Take away the gambling from football,” he says, “and you’ve got soccer.”
Allow gambling on high school football, he adds, and watch the grandstands fill.

The Super Bowl is not only the biggest betting day of the year for the Las Vegas sports book fraternity, it is the one game on which just about everyone from Seattle to Sarasota has a little action. Wexler appreciates the excitement, but thinks the NFL and the legal gambling industry are hypocrites for not taking a stronger stance on the issue of addiction.
“I’m not a prohibitionist,” he says. “I’m a recovering compulsive gambler. Compulsive gamblers cannot walk out with the money. It’s not about the money that you win. It’s about being in action. That’s the sickness.”

What does a recovering compulsive gambler do on the biggest betting day of the year?

“We’re probably going to go out to dinner with my father-in-law and his girlfriend,” Wexler says. “After that, I’ll probably end up at some kind of meeting.”

Old gambling stories aside, that’s what keeps him money ahead in real life.
John L. Smith’s column appears Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. E-mail him at Smith@reviewjournal.com or call (702) 383-0295. He also blogs at lvrj.com/blogs/smith.

The gambler is eventually able to remove themselves from reality to the point of being totally obsessed with gambling. Eventually, they will do anything to get the money with which to stay in “action”. They will spend all their time and energy developing schemes in order to get the money to continue gambling. Lying becomes a way of life for the gambler.

They will try to convince others and themselves that their lies are actually truths and they will believe there own lies.

After they hit a real bottom they will have to do something if they want to try to recover.  Most gamblers at that point will want to stop but can’t (they wont be able to).

Most even at that point  will keep gambling  some will end up in jail  some will attempt suicide  some will die from their addiction as they will not take care of their health or the stress will kill them.

And a small group of addicted gamblers will seek and find real help  but the real trick is to get in to real recovery.  Not just abstinence.  By the time the  gambler comes for help they have broken brains (Meaning their brains don’t work like they used to when they were not in there addiction).

To get real recovery the gambler needs to work on them self’s  one day at a time and get someone to do there thinking for them who has been in recovery some time and has there brains  are working right   (a sponsor)  After some time in recovery there brains will start to work again.  They  will become productive on there job and become a good father  and husband.   Recover is a process and does not happen with out a lot of work on your self . and making a moral and financial inventory. But people can recover and do.

‘TAKE AWAY gambling from the National Football League and you’ve got soccer,” Arnie Wexler grumbles, knowing he’s got your attention now, without resorting to a 2-by-4 upside your head.

“When I was betting, and I haven’t made a bet since April 10, 1968, it was ‘win-or-lose.’ Now, it’s ‘over/under’ and 200 different proposition bets. Playoff games and the Super Bowl are to the compulsive gambler what New Year’s Eve is to an alcoholic.”

You can bet on the coin toss at the Super Bowl, heads or tails, but you have to wager $55 to win $50 on what is essentially a 50-50 proposition. That’s called vigorish, the house advantage, the built-in edge that helped create the glitzy casino skyline in Las Vegas (take away gambling from Vegas and you have cactus).

Wexler lost too many win-or-lose bets. Wound up with nothing but lint in his pockets and thoughts of suicide raging inside his head. Fought his way back. Calls himself a recovering gambling addict, because that’s what he is.

Runs a counseling service with his wife, Sheila. Fights the good fight against the lotteries, against the casino tide, against sports betting.

“When they debated 24-hour casino gambling in New Jersey,” he recalls bitterly, “I testified at the hearings, hammered away at them, borrowing from the cigarette companies having to put a ‘hazardous to your health’ sticker on every pack. Finally, they agreed to offer a phone number to call ‘if you or someone you know has a gambling problem.’ ”

If you or someone you know has a gambling problem you can call 1-888-LAST BET, and Wexler will get back to you. He sees Pennsylvania approving casino table games and on-site credit and it makes him sick.

“More and more states approving gambling,” Wexler moans, “as an easy way to balance a budget, without caring about destroying the lives of some of its citizens.”

Wexler’s theory is raw. Make it easier to gamble and more people will gamble. Some of those people have the gene that predisposes them to compulsive gambling. Some of those people will become addicted, steal, abuse a spouse, shatter a marriage, commit suicide. He defines a compulsive gambler as “someone who lets the gambling control you, instead of you controlling the gambling.”

Says there are 5 million gambling addicts out there, with another 15 million at risk.

(Let the record show that the pie-in-the-sky forecasts of $250 million in table-game revenue going to the state include a $3 million set-aside to help addicted gamblers get treatment.)

He shares an e-mail from a judge in a city where gambling is legal, citing the dramatic increase in domestic-abuse incidents on Super Bowl weekend. (Let the record show that a survey a couple of years ago debunked this statistical trend as urban myth.)

He follows the Gilbert Arenas gun-toting mess with a jaundiced eye, knowing that it was triggered by a dispute over a gambling debt spawned by a high-stakes card game among teammates.

When a $12 million-a-year guy plays poker with a $1 million-a-year guy, the $12 million guy wins every time unless the $1 million guy has brought his own deck. Either way, feelings get bruised, bitterness follows.

In reaction to the Arenas mess, Lakers coach Phil Jackson has endorsed card games on charter flights. Nets president Rod Thorn has banned them.

“Ten years ago,” Wexler rasps, “I had a meeting with the NBA. They were concerned about gambling in the league. One of the things that came up was guys losing $30,000 to $50,000 playing cards on a flight from one city to another.

“We put together a set of questions for every player and my wife was going to evaluate the answers. We gave the league the questions and they never got back to us. They abandoned the idea, and the word was that the higher-ups were afraid of the media’s response.”

And now, between dealing with a rogue referee who bet on games he officiated and the Arenas mess, NBA commissioner David Stern ran the legal-gambling banner up the flagpole. Wexler did not salute. He threw rocks at it.

“Money,” he snorts. “Greed. The things that have motivated David Stern down through the years.”

They have a gadget in Vegas now that allows a gambler to place bets from anywhere in the hotel/casino. Can you imagine 6,000 people at Wachovia Center carrying a similar gadget? Elton Brand steps to the foul line and you can bet make-or-miss.

(Let’s say he’s shooting 77 percent from the foul line, you will still have to bet $100 to win $75, if you think he will make the shot. That old devil, vigorish, cackling in the background as a basketball game is transformed into dogfighting, you should excuse the expression.)

Wexler used to think gambling was recession-proof. Now he sees Atlantic City casinos going belly up and Vegas revenues shrinking and New England casinos up to their armpits in debt.

“I always wondered about saturation,” he confesses. “And now, with so many casinos out there, people are going to go broke, to tap out. The states counting on huge revenues will wind up disappointed. The average person, faced with daunting odds, is backing away. It’s the addicted gambler who continues to gamble.”

He will keep hammering away at states ignoring the social woes that come with increased legal gambling. He will keep yammering at casinos that get players drunk while approving six-figure “markers.” And he willingly, sadly, offers two more warnings.

“The big secret in the gambling industry,” he says, “is the increasing number of addicted workers in the industry. Sure, they can’t gamble where they work, but they go down the street, to gamble in a different casino.

“And then there’s the problem of all those slot machines on military bases abroad. More and more soldiers becoming addicts, more and more lives impacted.”

Wexler’s message is bleak as America gets ready to celebrate another Super Bowl. Meanwhile, avoid betting “over/under” on the length of the national anthem. It’s a sucker bet because the wiseguys have a “book” on the anthem singers, who’s slow, who’s quick, who makes “rockets’ red glare” last longer than a Charles Barkley New Year’s resolution.

Send e-mail to stanrhoch@comcast.net

I started gambling at about age 7 or 8 as a kid in Brooklyn, NY. It started with flipping baseball cards, pitching pennies, shooting marbles and playing pinball machines. That kind of gambling continued until about age 14. At that point I started to bet on sporting events with a bookmaker and I got into the stock market.

As a young kid, growing up, I always felt that everyone was better than me. The only time I felt okay about myself was after I had a win, whether it was marbles or baseball cards or pennies. Then at 14 I went to the racetrack for the first time (that was Memorial Day, 1951 Roosevelt Raceway). At that time in my life I was making $.50 an hour after school, working about 15-20 hours a week. That night at Roosevelt Raceway I had my first big win and walked out of the track with $54. Looking back today, I think it was that night that changed my life. Even though it was only $54, it was about 5 weeks salary to me at that time. That night gave me the belief that I could be a winner from gambling and eventually become a millionaire. I can still recall that high feeling walking out of the racetrack that night.

By 17, I was already stealing to support my gambling. It started with stealing comic books to play cards with from the local candy store. Before long it was stealing money from my family to pay for gambling. By then I was taking the bus to the racetrack, a few nights a week on a regular basis. In those days they closed the track in the winter months, in New York so on weekends, I would take the bus or the train to Maryland to gamble. I was betting sporting events and horses with the bookmaker on a daily basis. In those days each sport had its own season. I remember calling the bookmaker one day and the only thing that was available to gamble on was hockey. I had never seen a hockey game, but bet on it anyway. It wasn’t until months later when I did see my first hockey game, that I realized that hockey was played on ice.

Somewhere between age 17 and 20 I went to the racetrack one night and won $6000. Wow! Another big win. It was the equivalent of 2 years salary. This reinforced my belief that I could be a winner at gambling.

By my early 20′s I was betting big amounts on lots of games that I didn’t really know much about and probably couldn’t name more than a handful of players who played in these events. In some of the college games I bet on, I couldn’t name one player or even tell you where the college was located, but I needed to be in action. By then I was a regular at the old Madison Square Garden, every week. I was watching and betting on college and professional basketball on a regular basis. At this point in my life I was working full time in a shipping department in the garment center and every Tuesday when we got paid there was a regular crap game out in the hallway. Almost every week I would lose my pay in this game. I began stealing supplies and merchandise on a daily basis to pay for my gambling. By then, I had a bank loan and a loan with a finance company loan. I was also borrowing from coworkers.

At 21 I met my future wife. Our first date was to the movies and most of the rest of our dating was at the racetrack. We had a joint checking account saving for our wedding. She would put money in and I wouldn’t. I needed to use my money for gambling. I was still looking for another big win. I thought the perfect place for our honeymoon would be Las Vegas or Puerto Rico since I knew both places had casinos. My wife to be didn’t think that was a good idea. I guess she understood enough about my gambling already. At 23 we got married and I wanted to stop gambling at that point. I thought that I could. Within a short time I was already back to gambling. Even though I wanted to stop, I realize today that I couldn’t. I needed to gamble like any drug addict needed to stick that needle in their arm, or any alcoholic needed to have that drink.

Four weeks after we got married I went away to the Army Reserves at Fort Dix, NJ for 6 months. During those 6 months, I gambled every day, fast and furious, from placing bets by phone with the bookmaker to shooting crap and playing cards, every waking minute. When I came home in December of 1961, I owed $4000 and didn’t even have a job.

I got a job, eventually, working in the garment center In the showroom that I worked in there were a few compulsive gamblers who I quickly got friendly with. They became my buddies. We would play cards during the day, and go to the racetrack at night and on weekends, together. My wife thought I was at business meetings some of these nights and all of us would lie for each other.

In 1963 my first daughter was born. My wife was in labor 37 hours. During that period I went to the racetrack twice. When the Doctor finally came out and told me that we had a baby, the only question I really was concerned about was “how much did she weigh”. He told me 7lbs.1 oz. You would think that the concern should have been “how is my wife” or  “how is the baby”. The first call I made was to the bookmaker. I bet 71 in the daily double. The next day when I picked up the newspaper, the daily double hit. I was convinced that day that God was sending me a message that I was now going to be a winner.

One year later my boss gave me an option to buy 500 shares of stock in the company for $7500. Within a year that stock was worth $38,000. In those days you could buy a car for $2000 and a house for about $10,000. Within 3 years this money would be gone due to my gambling. By now I was a plant supervisor for a Fortune 500 company. My gambling was already so out of control that I was stealing everything I could to stay in action. I set up a room in the factory that we used for playing cards (all day long). I was starting to do illegal acts (manipulating stocks) in the stock market.

Our home life was deteriorating. Gambling was more important than anything else that was going on at home. I was lying about almost everything and I would come home and pick a fight so I could go out to gamble. Nothing else at that point in my life was more important than gambling; not my family or my job. Gambling came first. At this point even though I was doing illegal acts, I was still borrowing money from only legal sources.

My gambling continued to get progressively worse. I was now a plant manager, supervising 300-400 people. My boss worked in New York, and I was in the factory in NJ. Most of the time he didn’t know what I was doing. Besides stealing and borrowing money from coworkers, I now had 3 bank loans and 3 loans to finance companies; I owed a loan shark an amount of money equal to one years salary. I was involved with 3 bookmakers, both working for them and betting with them. I directed a lot of people who gambled in my company, to my bookmaker and got a piece of the action. I even got involved in a numbers operation. Between this and stealing, I was supporting my gambling. There were times I would bet 40 or 50 games on a weekend, and believe I could win them all. One weekend, just before I hit my bottom, I called a bookmaker and took a shot by betting a round robin which amounted to about 2 years annual salary. At that moment  if I lost that bet, there was no way I could pay it. Things were getting so bad, I remember calling a bookmaker one day and being told that if I didn’t bring him the money I owed him he would not take my bet for that night. I went home and sold our car to a neighbor.

By now, I wasn’t going home to pick a fight with my wife. I was doing it over the phone so I wouldn’t waste the trip home. Most of the time I was out gambling, but when I was home we were constantly fighting. We had sex very rarely. When I won I was so high I didn’t need it and if I lost I didn’t want it. But there were times we had sex and my wife would say to me “do you hear a radio”. Of course I would tell her she was crazy, but I had a radio on under the pillow so I could listen to a game. We were trying to have another child, but couldn’t. My wife came to me with the idea of adoption. I didn’t like that idea especially when I was told it would cost money. I needed that money for gambling. After 3 months of her bothering me, I finally went along with the idea of adoption, as I thought she would be so busy with the 2 kids that she would leave me alone. I borrowed the money we needed from my boss and relatives. On the day we were bringing our son home on a plane, it was the 7th game of the 1967 World Series. My wife was busy looking at this beautiful new baby. I had no interest in him. I had a large bet on the game. The pilot was announcing the score every 15 minutes, or so. I was so upset that we were on this plane. I wished and prayed that the plane would get to the ground so that I could see or hear every minute of this game.

In the next few months the bottom fell out of my world even though I still had my job and still looked okay. There were no track marks on my arm, I wasn’t smelling from my gambling. No one could really tell what was going on. I would come home from gambling and see my wife crying all the time, depressed, sick. Our daughter was 4 years old and I don’t remember her walking or talking. I either wasn’t home or when I was my head was consumed with the gambling. At that point in my life, I owed 32 people, 3 years annual salary. I had a life insurance policy and constantly thought about killing myself and leaving my wife and 2 kids that money. I would do anything to keep gambling. As long as I could get my hands on some more money to stay in action, I still thought that the big win was just around the corner. I was trying to find out where I could get drugs to sell and looking around at gas stations to rob. I was asking people about making counterfeit money. I was running out of options. My boss came to me one day and told me that a detective was following me and he had a report on my gambling. He knew I was betting more money than I earned and he was sure that I was stealing from the company and that if he found out he would have me arrested. Three hours later I was stealing from the company again. I needed to go to the racetrack that night. On February 2, 1968 my wife was having a miscarriage and I was taking her to the hospital. I was wishing and praying all the way that she would die. I thought that would solve all my problems (I wouldn’t have to tell her how bad things were). That morning I called my mother to watch my kids, I called my boss and told him I couldn’t come to work because my wife was in the hospital. That afternoon I went to the racetrack. After the track I went to see how my wife was. When I got to the hospital the doctor told me that my wife was in shock and had almost died. I was so deep into my addiction that I really didn’t care about her, the 2 kids or myself. The only important thing was making a bet.

I thought that I was the only one living the way I was living and doing the things that I was doing. I found out that I was not alone and that I could stop gambling with the help of the other people. I had hope for the first time. It’s been over 40 years since I last gambled. Today I have everything I dreamed about getting from gambling and then some. I have a wonderful family that is still intact and even have been blessed with 4 grandchildren who I love very much. In the last 30 years I have been able to devote my working life to helping others who have this problem and educating people on the disease of Compulsive Gambling. This has been a dream come true.